Mexican peso up over one percent as Trump softens campaign pledges

Reuters

Reuters

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's peso gained over 1 percent to around 20.64 pesos per dollar in Asian trading on Sunday, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appeared to soften some of his more incendiary campaign pledges that were seen hurting the Mexican economy.

The peso <MXN=D2>, the world's worst-performing currency this year, has fallen to record lows after Trump's election upset last week on fears he may look to decrease trade and build a wall between the two countries, while also deporting about 11 million people living illegally in the United States.

On Sunday, Trump backed away from his promise to erect a border wall, saying some areas could instead be "fencing," and added he would move to deport up to 3 million immigrants in the country illegally who have criminal records.

Trump's win has hit Mexican assets hard, with the peso plunging to a record-low of more than 21 pesos per dollar, leading analysts to lower their economic growth forecasts for the country.

So far, Mexican authorities have declined to intervene to stem the peso's losses, a move most analysts had expected. The central bank holds its next meeting on Thursday.

On Friday, Finance Minster Jose Antonio Meade said the government might be ready to design new currency intervention mechanisms, which it would create alongside the central bank and announce when the time was right.

The central bank maintains that the peso depreciation's pass-through to inflation has so far been mild.